


The Fall of Rome

by caterinawrites



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, exposing lila, s3 spite fic, soft lila redemption, spite with a happy ending, the class starts drinking respect marinette juice again, the class wants revenge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-26 02:53:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17737613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caterinawrites/pseuds/caterinawrites
Summary: When Rose receives a letter from Prince Ali, she learns the truth about their "well-traveled" classmate.  With the help of their everyday Ladybug, the class seeks revenge, and Lila learns the hard way that kingdoms built on lies will only crumble.





	The Fall of Rome

**Author's Note:**

> So this fic is modified from a post I made on tumblr after the s2 finale aired. The original idea was pre-chameleon, but now I'm writing this post-chameleon, so I made some tweaks. I know a lot of people are ready for their serving of justice pie in MDCSP, so here is a shorter fic to tide you all over until we get there :P This one will probably only be 2-3 chapters, and I'll try to update it soon. Hope you enjoy!

_Dear Prince Ali,_

_I hope this letter finds you well! Things are going great here in Paris now that Ladybug and Chat Noir saved us all from Hawkmoth on Heroes’ Day. Did you hear about it in the news in your country? I was reakumatized along with several of my classmates, but don’t worry, everything is fine now. How are things in Achu? I heard about your recent visit with Lila, and I think it’s so amazing that you two are working together to reduce pollution in the world! I’ve been so inspired that I’ve started using reusable water bottles, and I talked to Marinette about increasing the number of recycling bins at our school. I hope you’ll tell me all about your efforts in your next letter, and I’ll be sure to tell Lila hi for you. I can’t wait to hear back from you!_

_Love,_

_Rose_

Rose sat on Juleka’s couch, gaze fixed ahead as her girl friends all chatted around her animatedly. She clutched a small folded letter in her hand, tracing her thumb over the edge a few times absentmindedly. Ali had finally responded to her last letter, but his reply left her questioning everything. Now she sat amongst her friends, uncertain of how to broach the subject for fear of what might unfold because if Prince Ali was telling the truth then that meant Lila wasn’t.

“It’s such a shame that Lila couldn’t join us today,” Mylene said, and Rose felt her spine stiffen.

“Yeah, but she had a meeting with several ambassadors to start a foundation for conserving our rain forests, so it’s understandable,” Alix said with a shrug, and Alya’s face softened into a smile.

“That girl is always working to make the world a better place,” she remarked, and beside her Marinette rolled her eyes but remained silent.

“Um,” Rose started, but Mylene cut her off.

“We should definitely try to plan a sleepover with her soon. I bet she could tell amazing stories about her travels,” her friend said, pressing her hands to her cheeks.

“I want to get the numbers of all of those princes she turned down,” Alya said, biting her lip.

“What about Nino?” Marinette quirked a brow, and Alya shot her a devilish look.

“He can come too.”

“Girls,” Rose tried again softly, but in that moment, Nino, Adrien, Ivan, and Luka descended the stairs.

“He can come to what?” Nino placed his hands on his hips, shooting his girlfriend a playful glare.

“On an exotic vacation with several hot princes,” Alya winked, as he stooped down to kiss her cheek, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. “You guys working on new music?”

“Yeah, Lila told us alternative is super in right now in the US, so we’re changing up our sound a little bit,” Ivan explained.

“Lila is so awesome! She really loves helping people,” Mylene said with a smile, and Adrien and Marinette exchanged looks while Rose fixed her gaze on the letter in her lap.

“Can you believe she saved the British prime minister from choking on a croissant?”

“I heard she visits her actor friends in Hollywood all the time on the weekends.”

“And just last week she-”

Rose squeezed her eyes shut, hoping to block out all of the noise and ease the pressure building in her lungs, but the more her friends prattled on, the harder it became to breath. Her eyes stung with angry tears as a single word flashed in her mind, pestering her over and over until she felt ready to burst.

“ _Liar!_ ” She shouted finally, and the room fell silent as all eyes snapped to her. “Lila is a liar!”

“Whoa, Rose, what’s the matter?” Nino’s eyebrows raised.

“Yeah, Rose, why are you bugging?” Alya echoed, and Rose unfolded the letter in her lap with shaking hands.

“I wrote a letter to Prince Ali, and he says he doesn’t know anyone named Lila,” Rose explained, passing it to Alya as everyone crowded around to read.

 Beside her, Marinette bit back a smug expression, watching as everyone’s expressions changed from skeptical to horrified to angry. This was exactly what she needed to happen. Lila’s web was finally crumbling, and Marinette couldn’t wait to see her try to lie her way out of this one.

“Wait, so, she really is lying?” Alix said, sitting back with pursed lips.

“You tried to tell us too, Marinette, and we totally blew you off,” Alya said with a wince before pulling her best friend into her arms. “I’m so sorry I said you were just jealous.”

“But wait, how did you find out, Marinette?” Mylene asked, and Marinette’s spin stiffened.

“Uh, well, I-”

“Because of me,” Adrien piped up, crossing his arms over his chest with a sigh. “The first day Lila moved here, she tried to convince me that she was a superheroine, but then Ladybug showed up and called her out for lying on the Ladyblog, and Marinette witnessed it.”

“I always knew that she’d get caught one day,” Marinette said, sounding incredibly amused by the whole situation.

“Man, I feel so dumb for believing her,” Ivan said, glaring down at his drumsticks.

“Yeah, how could we have been so blind?” Alix scoffed, and the room erupted into a chorus of disgruntled chatter.

Sensing the tension in the room, Adrien turned to Marinette with a pleading look.

“This is my fault,” he said, curling his shoulders. “I told you not to out her, and now everyone’s hurt.

Marinette waved her hands frantically, fishing for some form of reassurance but ultimately coming up empty. In a sense, he wasn’t _wrong_ , but she chose to stay quiet too when she had a clear shot to expose her. Of course, she’d only stayed quiet because he told her to, and she cursed her weak-willed heart every day, but now wasn’t the time to gloat. She needed to set things right.

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle it,” she said with a smile before standing up, and all eyes snapped to her. “Listen, I know you’re all upset and hurt, but let’s find the positive. At least now, you all know the truth, so Lila can’t get away with it anymore.”

“We should get her back,” Alix suggested with a crooked grin. “Make her pay for making us all act like idiots over her.”

“Alix, do you really think revenge is the best-” Marinette started, but Alya cut her off.

“I could record the footage and put it on my blog.”

“We should make sure she never lies to anyone ever again!”

Marinette glanced back at Adrien worriedly as their friends animatedly plotted their revenge, but he simply shrugged.

“I don’t agree with it, but I feel like I’ve done enough harm,” he said in her ear. “Your call.”

With that he turned and quietly paced back up to the main deck, leaving Marinette amidst her angry classmates and friends with a heavy choice to make. If they humiliated Lila, she could get akumatized again, but Ladybug had already beaten her twice. She also would probably come to resent everyone in the class, but it _would_ be her own fault for lying. At the end of the day, Lila had brought this on herself, and making sure she doesn’t lie to anyone again would solve a lot of problems.

“You’ll help us, right, Marinette?” Alya asked, snapping her out of her inner turmoil as everyone fixed their gaze on her.

“I, uh,” she stammered, tapping her fingers together. “Don’t you guys think it’s a little mean to want to humiliate her?”

“Oh, you mean like how she humiliated all of us?” Alix said, cocking a brow.

“Yeah, this girl deserves to be punished,” Nino agreed.

“I thought you’d be stoked to get back at Lila considering you were the one always trying to out her,” Alya said, eyes narrowing skeptically, and Marinette shifted her weight.

“I do want to see her face the consequences for her actions, but I just don’t want to resort to being mean because then are we really any better than her?” Marinette asked, and Alya cupped a hand over her heart, pulling Marinette in for a tight hug.

“M, you have a heart of gold. We’re sorry we ever doubted you,” she said warmly before pulling back with a smirk, “but we’re still going to call her out.”

“Yeah, she made us doubt you, and you’re like the best ever,” Alix said, hugging one knee to her chest on the couch.

“Yeah, Marinette, we owe it to you to make her pay,” Nino added, wrapping an arm around his girlfriend’s shoulders.

“You do so much for all of us, so we wanna do something for you for a change,” Ivan smiled, rubbing the back of his neck, and Marinette bit her lip, tapping her feet as she weighed the pros and cons before sighing.

“Okay, I’ll help you get revenge,” she said finally, “ _but_ we’re going to do it my way.”

 

 

 


End file.
